Gas turbine engines are used to power aircraft, watercraft, power generators, and the like. Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. The compressor compresses air drawn into the engine and delivers high pressure air to the combustor. In the combustor, fuel is mixed with the high pressure air and is ignited. Products of the combustion reaction in the combustor are directed into the turbine where work is extracted to drive the compressor and, sometimes, an output shaft. Left-over products of the combustion are discharged from the turbine and may provide thrust in some applications.
In some gas turbine engines, the compressor and turbine include alternating stages of static vane assemblies and rotating wheel assemblies. The rotating wheel assemblies include disks carrying blades around their outer edges. The disks may experience thermal stresses caused by thermal gradients between the outer edges and inner hubs of the disks.
In some gas turbine engines, the combustor comprises a wave rotor (sometimes called a dynamic pressure exchanger). Typical wave rotors may be configured for constant volume combustion. Some such wave rotors can include an inlet plate, an outlet plate spaced apart from the inlet plate along a central axis of the wave rotor, and a rotor assembly positioned between the plates. The inlet plate provides an inlet port through which a flow of air and fuel pass into rotor passages formed in the rotor assembly. The rotor assembly receives and combusts the fuel-air mixture to produce hot high-pressure products as the rotor assembly rotates about the central axis. The outlet plate provides an outlet port for the hot high-pressure products to exit the wave rotor. The rotor assembly may experience thermal stresses caused by temperature gradients between an outer rim and an inner hub of the rotor assembly.